BEAVER

a rodent of aquatic and egarious habits found both in the d and New Worlds, and valued for } fur, and for a peculiar substance lied castor cum, used in perfumery. The r varies in colour from a glo y brown ulmostblack. During the eighteenth and rt of the nineteenth century as many 200,000 skins were annually exported om America. The fur was largely used the manufacture of hats; an Act of 38 prohibited the use of any other aterial for the purpose in England. The sh is an article of food among the sppers and hunters in the districts where e animals aro abundant. [s. 66]